


My Bloody Valentine

by Killmongersmistress (teakturn)



Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Erik Killmonger Feels, F/M, Mild Blood, Necromancy, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV Female Character, Spooky, Tumblr Prompt, Undead, Undead Erik Killmonger, Valentine's Challenge, Valentine's Day, Witchcraft, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 07:51:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18132968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teakturn/pseuds/Killmongersmistress
Summary: Veil is looking forward to spending Valentine's Day treating herself like a queen. All would have gone according to plan, if not for an unexpected guest.





	My Bloody Valentine

Veil circled the counter and latched the door to her shop. They were closed for the night and she had plans with Netflix, her bathtub, and a waterproof vibrator in the time it took her to get up the stairs that led to her apartment. It was Valentine’s Day and Veil had plans to make love to herself the way no other man could. Inventory could wait until the morning and there were enough protection spells on the building to keep out even the most determined thief. Tonight was looking like the perfect me-time recharge Veil desperately needed.

The lights were still on from when she came up for lunch. Veil went through the motions of winding down for the night. Her flats were kicked off and left in a corner to be put back on in the morning when she got up to open up the shop. She emptied her pockets onto the counter; keys, wand, phone, wallet. You know, the usual. Then with all the grace of a cat, Veil stripped out of her work clothes and into a soft robe she stole from a hotel during her last Girl's Trip with her sisters. 

With a snap of her fingers all the candles lit, her speaker began the first song on her Happy Playlist. Another snap started her bathwater. While the tub filled itself, Veil scattered flowers and slices of blood orange into the water. The sound of her cat Peril, yowling from her living room snapped Veil out of her tranquil state.

Tightening the knot of her robe, Veil tiptoed from her bathroom towards where she'd last seen Peril. The cat, a red tabby missing an eye, liked to sunbathe on the desk Veil had painstakingly pushed in front of the big bay window in her living room. She didn't find Peril in his usual spot. Her cat was instead glaring at the front door, the door that led out to the street. His back was arched, his claws extended. 

“What is it, baby?” Veil's melodic voice came out in a near whisper.

Peril flicked his tail, in warning. Veil waited a moment longer, her fingers ready should she need to perform a wandless defense spell. All noise in the house ceased, Veil tried her hardest to listen to sounds outside the door Peril was now inching toward. After sniffing under the crack in the door, Peril gave a grumpy meow and retreated. 

Whatever had him on edge was gone. Veil still double locked the locks and tightened her wards. She couldn't be too careful. She was a good witch, well, mostly good. What she had in power she lacked in a moral compass pointing due North. The skilled witches could never be truly good because the path to power was paved in blood, sweat, and tears. 

And the good witches can’t hang with the big dogs, but you didn’t hear that from Veil.

She looked forward to her bath more than ever now, her shoulders were tight and she couldn't escape the feeling that there was someone, somewhere watching her. Just to be careful, Veil latched all the windows and closed the curtains. There weren’t many people up at this hour in her neighborhood. Except for Veil, and anyone like Veil.

She returned to the bathroom, more than ready to get to her evening plans. Instead of a bathroom filled with candles, sweet-smelling bathwater, and a plugged-in vibrator, Veil found herself face to neck with Erik. He stood just in the threshold of the bathroom door, naked except for a smile on his handsome face.

“How's it hanging princess?” 

Veil glared at him, then glanced down at his soft penis, “You tell me, Killmonger?”

His dick jumped. Veil rolled her eyes.

 

Erik Killmonger Stevens had been a pet project for Veil. She'd found his body while on a girls trip in Wakanda. Her coven had encouraged her to take his nails and teeth for later spells. Bones were better for the kind of magic they got into, but they would have been too bulky to take on the plane back. She still doesn't know what possessed her to bring the man back to life. But she cursed whatever thought compelled her to resurrect one of the most annoying men she’d ever met.

“First things first, pants,” Veil glanced down at the ritual scarring she'd admired on his torso while summoning the power of her ancestors to bring his soul back from the grave. “Maybe a shirt too,”

Ignoring her bath, Veil snapped her fingers and all the candles went out. The bright overhead lights lit the short walk from her bathroom to her bedroom. Her bare feet slapped against the hardwood floors. Erik didn't make a sound as he moved yet she knew he was right on her heels because he was always there. Right behind her. Watching.

“So what brings you here this time?” Veil searched through her chest of drawers for the sweat pants and t-shirt she kept around just for occasions like this. 

When Erik wasn't around her apartment eating her out a house and home or down in the shop pretending to help when really he just wanted a reason to flirt with the female customers Veil didn't know where he went. She didn't ask, didn't know if she really wanted to know, honestly. Sometimes he'd stick around her apartment for weeks, keeping her company when Veil got sick of the politics of dealing with a coven. Sometimes she'd see him a few days out of the month. 

He never let her know when he was coming back and she could never anticipate when he would leave.

“Missed you, missed your food,” Erik's voice was a deep grumble. She heard the truth in his words and couldn't help the burning in her cheeks as she turned to hand him his clothes.

“Get dressed. Today’s Valentine’s Day. I had a whole evening planned and it’s like you knew that. So you just had to choose _now_ to show up on my doorstep,” Veil took a calming breath. No need to get worked up over the man she’d sewn together in her basement. She added through clenched teeth, “After being gone for six weeks without a phone call or a note.”

Once calm, she smiled brightly at him, “Why are you back anyway? You didn’t bring me another dead Nazi, did you? I just don't have the storage space for another corpse Erik," Veil sighed.

Erik rolled his eyes, a habit Veil hated. He knew that of course, he just liked riling her up.

"I can't just want to see you?"

Veil looked Erik in the black pits of his eyes. There wasn't a lot of emotion in them, but Veil liked to believe that she could see something almost warm in their depths.

“Of course," the words came out a soft croak. Veil cleared her throat," I have some steaks in the fridge for dinner. If you want I could-”

“No. Take your bath.” His hand pressed against his chest and with a dimpled smirk he nodded towards the kitchen, “I’ll cook.”

Veil’s eyes widened. “O-okay. Oh and before you go snooping I went to the good butcher in town so I was able to get some scraps for you.”

“Mhmm,” Erik’s eyes went black with hunger.

Veil smiled at the adorable hungry look in his eye, “I know you don't like cooked meat.”

Killmonger grimaced but nodded. She didn't want him going full on carnivore but she understood he had needs. He'd eat three steaks, one raw, the other two lightly seared. As long as he stuck to butcher scraps and not her neighbors they were golden. Veil had a good life in the town with her shop and her coven. 

 

Together they settled into her old couch. Elbow to elbow because the seat cushions had long since given up giving actual support. Erik tucked into the slightly cooked steaks with a grimace. Blood and fat stained his teeth. He growled as he ate, a small noise Veil was starting to believe he didn't even realize he was making.

She queued up an episode of Charmed from last Sunday. Erik wasn't around so he'd missed it. Together they watched and ate in silence. Soon Veil was fed and cozy, dozing off on the couch even though she still had to go through her skincare routine, and wrap her hair. Heavy-lidded brown eyes fell to Erik. The man had finished his cooked steaks and was now happily tearing into the raw steak.

The sight was gory enough to make anyone's stomach turn but Veil wasn't anyone. She lifted a hand and sunk her fingers to the roots of his locs and scratched his scalp. The low, happy sounding growl in his chest grew louder.

“Keep me up E, I still gotta get ready for bed.” Veil paused, she stopped stroking his hair and instead began tugging at his earlobe. It was something she'd discovered he liked in those early weeks of reanimation when he was nothing more than a soulless meat sack.

“How you want me to do that?” Erik set the remains of his bloodied steak on his plate. He slipped from sitting next to her to sitting with his head in her lap. This gave Veil better access to his ear and scalp.

“I don't know man ask me questions. Let's test that brain elasticity one last time.” Veil knocked her knuckle against his temple. Erik swatted her hand away with a warning growl.

It was a running joke between them, although Erik never laughed she knew he didn't take her teasing to heart. Brains were a hard thing to come by. Luckily whatever had killed Erik left his brain intact but it takes a while for a dead brain to get used to no longer being dead. During their first weeks together Veil hadn't been sure that Erik would progress beyond a groaning zombie. 

She couldn't think of any use for him should that happen. He could be an errand boy, should he turn out not to be violent. Veil wasn't stupid. She'd known his body had probably been used to kill, cause pain and fear. This could mean that he would come back a monster, killing who he pleased because he had the skill for it and no longer had any humanity holding him back. 

Luckily it had never come to that for the two of them.

“Can you make potions?”

Veil paused before she answered. Not really the question she'd been expecting but she should have known better than to expect anything when dealing with Erik, “Sure, I don't really have a need for potions in my line of work but-” 

“Can you turn a nigga into a frog?” Erik interrupted excitedly.

“Well yeah but then I got a frog to deal with. If I want to get rid of a man there are easier ways that don't involve me buying a bunch of crickets.”

Erik chuckled. He glanced up at her without lifting his head from her lap, “Are you speaking from experience?”

Veil bit her lip to fight back her smile, “Let's change the subject. I know you have other questions for me.”

Erik studied her for a beat but nodded once and turned his back towards the TV.

“What does a potion do?”

“Whatever I need it to. There's a spell for everything and if there isn't I can usually make one.” Veil began braiding his locs. He'd need a touch up soon. 

“Wait you make spells? Does that make you a super witch?”

“If anything it makes me a sad human who spends to much time reading dusty old books instead of socializing. I mean,” Veil let her head fall to the back of the couch to avoid Erik's eyes, “It took me nine months to create you. And no one but my coven reached out to me. Mostly for a proof of life check.”

Although Erik was her proudest creation to date, what did it say that she had the time and energy to bring a man back to life? Her mother would say that if she had a man she wouldn’t need to create one. It was quips like that, that got her stuck in her current predicament. Which reminds her she should really dust off that old mirror in her storage and pay her a visit.

“Have you ever made a love potion?” Erik’s voice brought Veil back to the present. 

The present being the two of them cuddled up on her couch watching TV and talking about nothing in particular. When did this become her normal or even her idea of an actually restful night? A couple of years ago she’d be out raising hell with her coven. Nowadays she down in the shop or up in her apartment tinkering with all her magical side projects. Then it was off to bed, sometimes there’d be an undead space heater to fill the gap on the other side of the bed.

“A love potion? That's boring.” Veil would have snorted if a yawn didn’t cut her off. She tried her best to cover her mouth but couldn’t catch it fast enough.

“What you too high and mighty for a love potion?”

“Try ‘I have standards’? Love potions are the magical equivalent to a roofie. Worse when you think of the ripple effect of damage they cause over time.”

“So you don't do love potions but you just casually decide to dip your toe in necromancy?”

“You complaining? I'm sure making you dead again won't be half as difficult as bringing you to life.” Veil grinned wolfishly. It was a smile more at home on Erik’s handsome and expressive face, but she mimicked it perfectly. Erik grinned back in delight, black eyes brightening to an almost dark brown.

"You're so cute when you're trying to be funny."


End file.
